Forgotten Moments
by PeppermintShamrock
Summary: It's hard to reminisce about all the things you used to get up to when only one of you remembers them. One shot written for Vaseshipping Week 2016


Written for Vaseshipping Week 2016

The other Yuugi marveled that this place had once been his home. This beautiful courtyard where he sat at the edge of a fountain, the wide blue sky over the open desert, the palace, the town below – everything was so much different than the streets of Domino City that he was accustomed to. It was such a strange feeling – he knew he belonged here, knew that all of this ought to have been familiar and mundane to him. But with his memories buried deep in time, he felt distant from this place, a stranger to it and the people that knew him. One of whom was bouncing along the fountain beside him.

"I just want to be able to help!"

"I know, Mana. But we have to be cautious – the fewer people we send into potential danger, the better."

He knew he shouldn't be wasting time staring at the scenery. There were far more pressing problems with Bakura threatening the kingdom. There was too much uncertainty – where and how would Bakura strike next? How would they stop him or at least minimize the damage? If only he could remember how he had dealt with it before…

"I don't want _anyone_ going into danger," Mana said, plopping herself down next to him on the fountain. "Especially not you or Master Mahaado. But if we have to, then I want to help in any way I can."

"I…"

"Let's talk about happier things," Mana said, cutting him off. "Happier times, so I don't drive myself mad waiting for the bad ones."

"Good idea. Dwelling on this does nothing for us," the other Yuugi said. Mana leaned against him and was quiet for a moment. He didn't mind; he was glad that Mana was comfortable enough to be so informal with him – he had a feeling that no one else he had met in this world would put away their perception of him as a god-king to approach him as a friend and an equal. Even Mahaado put up the barrier of formality between them.

"Do you remember when we enchanted Seto's hat?"

"Hmm…?"

"You don't? Guess Master Mahaado and Pharaoh Akhenamkanon must have yelled at us so hard that it made you forget all about it. It was really funny! We made it hop off his head and out of his reach each time he tried to grab it. He was chasing it all around this courtyard." Mana demonstrated by pointing with her finger and making hopping motions. "And we were laughing so hard that we could hardly breathe – I think that's how they figured out that we did it. That was shortly after he became a priest."

"That does sound very funny, although I doubt Seto thought it was," he said, smiling.

"Oh, he never thinks any of our pranks are funny. At least Master Mahaado laughed at a few of them, even when he was trying to lecture us about them. And Siamun too. Actually, you can tell he thinks most of them are funny – I think the only time he was ever _really_ angry about it was with the fire."

"The fire?" he asked. Mana looked at him strangely, and he was reminded even more of how much he couldn't remember.

"Yeah…when we snuck into the kitchens in the middle of the night because we wanted to learn how to cook. It always looked so easy when the servants did it! We got everything out and tried to do exactly what they always did, but we made a mess and then you ended up setting everything on fire and…" She stopped and looked directly at him. "You really don't remember anything, do you?" she said in exasperation.

 _You have no idea how true that is,_ he thought.

"I'm sorry, Mana. I'm afraid I don't remember that at all. But please, don't stop! I like hearing you tell me about it anyway," he said, eager to gain any insight into his forgotten life. And Mana looked so animated when she was telling those stories – he hated to see how his inability to join in with the reminiscing was putting a damper on her excitement.

"Ah…I could tell you didn't remember that. Usually when it comes up you always say that I started the fire too," she said, still looking downcast.

"Are you admitting it?" he teased.

"No! Of course not! It was all your doing, all your fault! I had nothing to do with it!" Mana said, bouncing up again, a smile on her face as she vehemently denied that she had anything to do with the fire. "Anyway, they were all very angry with us and we had to apologize over and over again, and say we were very sorry and we would never do anything like that again. The only time anyone even got close to being that angry with us again was when we took off to go riding in the desert, and decided to go to another town instead of back home. And then there was that terrible storm right after we disappeared and they all were frightened that we were dead until Isis saw that we were still alive with the Necklace. Everyone lectured us for days after that but I think they would have been much angrier if they hadn't been so worried about us – well, more worried about you, since you're the Prince, but…" she paused, and the other Yuugi had the uncomfortable feeling that she was searching for any sign of recognition in his face, which he could not give her no matter how enthralled he was with these stories. "But you don't remember that either, do you?"

"No…"

"And that wasn't even that long ago! They must have put some sort of spell on you when you took the throne to make you forget all about the misbehavior we used to get up to so you wouldn't be tempted to act like that as Pharaoh!" She plopped down again in frustration. He wished he could do something, but what could he do but apologize? He didn't remember any of this! "Heh…imagine if I could prove it, what a scandal that would be, huh?"

"Well…I don't think I've been enchanted, but I guess I wouldn't be the best person to judge that, would I?" he said, trying to make light of it. He couldn't help but feel guilty about upsetting her. "I'm sorry. I guess everything that's happened lately has just distracted me so much that childhood memories are at the back of my mind." He wished he could tell her the truth, but even if she believed him…

"Well, surely you must remember the first time we kissed, at least?" Mana asked.

"Wh…What?!" he spluttered, completely caught off guard. He had NOT expected that. "N…No, I…" he started before realizing that that probably wasn't the best thing to say.

"Just messing with you!" Mana said quickly. There was a smile on her face, but to the other Yuugi, it looked forced, not reaching her eyes. "We never did that!"

 _You don't have to lie_ , he wanted to say. _I'd rather you call me heartless for forgetting._ He felt terribly guilty as he thought frantically for any way to make this better, to remove the veiled look of pain in her eyes.

"Maybe…maybe we should do it now…then?" he said awkwardly. There was a long pause, before he leaned toward her and kissed her gently. She kissed back with a little more force, her eyes closed. Then she pulled away.

"You better not go and forget that!" she said in a false cheery and teasing tone, and quickly looked off in the distance.

"I won't," he promised.

 _And one day…I'll remember all those things you told me about…and what you didn't tell me about._


End file.
